A Necessary Demon

Velkommen til visning av dokumentaren A Necessary Demon!

Dokumentaren er filmet som en del av prosjektet Mytopolitics in South Asia og utforsker hvordan myter, historier og historiske minner blir omarbeidet til å forhandle om kaste, politikk og identitet.

Visingen av dokumentaren varer i ca. 1 time, etterfulgt av 30 minutter diskusjon. Professor Arild E. Ruud, IKOS/UiO, vil åpne diskusjonen.

A Necessary Demon er regissert av professor Moumita Sen og Saptarshi Mandal. Dokumentaren er på Hindi, Bengali og Santhali, med engelsk teksting.

Om dokumentaren

This documentary follows an Indigenous activist involved in a countercultural movement in eastern India that reinterprets a figure long described as a “demon” in Hindu mythology as an ancestral indigenous king. Set in forested regions of easten India, the film explores how myths, stories, and historical
memory are reworked to negotiate caste, vote-bank politics, and identity.

Shot over eight years of long-term fieldwork, the documentary weaves together everyday life, oral traditions, archival materials, and public performances to trace how the struggle for identity and dignity among the most oppressed of India’s communities evolve over time.

By foregrounding the creative power of myth, the film reflects on how storytelling becomes a means of re-imagining social hierarchy, political claim-staking, cultural dignity, and collective selfunderstanding.

Title

A Necessary Demon

Director

Moumita Sen and Saptarshi Mandal

Producer(s)

Moumita Sen

Director of Photography

Saptarshi Mandal

Country / Region

India

Language(s)

Hindi, Bengali, Santhali

Duration

Approx. 70 minutes

Years of Production

2017–2023